Our mission is even more urgent now. Make a b'day donation to @theunpopulist.net: “[I]f liberal democracy is to be saved, it will have to depend on new institutional voices. We will either provide you w/ fearless, uncompromising, and honest coverage or go down fighting.” shorturl.at/uM7oC

Did he declare the $50k as income on his taxes? Under Schedule C (for corruption)?

The next story is about how trans people are losing their livelihoods and sense of safety and I wonder if those two stories might be connected perchance?

We just turned 4! 🥳 🎂 🎉

The new reality that is emerging in Texas is that certain topics or ideas are simply off the table in the classroom. The censorship of academic speech and entire fields of knowledge in service to an ideology poses an unprecedented danger to the future of higher education. #AcademicFreedom

x is such a weird place man

Just heard that Michael Knowles will be on @npr.org's All Things Considered, and I am guessing listeners will be given a very abbreviated biography!

Certiorari "before judgment" is how #SCOTUS takes up a full appeal *before* the intermediate federal courts have heard it. It used to be exceedingly rare. For instance, there wasn't a *single* grant of such expedited review b/w August 2004 & February 2019. This is the *23rd* such grant since then.

new from @kylietcheung.bsky.social in @teenvogue.com: recently, men have impersonated plainclothes ICE agents to assault women—only possible, she argues, because state agents commit violence with impunity. "To be clear, men wouldn’t be posing as ICE agents and assaulting women if ICE didn’t exist."

We generally expect partisans to give credit when their guy is in charge (Dems think crime is higher under Bush/Trump, lower under Obama/Biden and vice versa). Genuinely wonder if this continues to hold given how central Trump has made "American is a crime-ridden hellhole" to his brand.

I mean, we are living in two different realities now, and this really hasn't always been the case.

Under pressure from Texas government officials, Angelo State University in Texas is banning all discussion or mention of the existence of trans people along with banning the LGBTQ pride flag from campus and forced misgendering of trans people. conchoobserver.com/2025/09/19/a...

Real story: even with our marriage license, someone in the Nebraska DMV claimed that it was fake, and my wife was denied a driver's license. It took an irate phone call from the probate court judge in GA to sort it out. Of course, I had no issue.

We are about ready to start our webinar: Translating Your Research into Action and Advancing Your Career with Florence LeCraw, from Georgia State Univ & Kosali Simon, from Indiana Univ & APPAM President-Elect.

New at Can We Still Govern? Will Howell and Terry Moe, two leading scholars of executive power, summarize their new book "Trajectory of Power": Trump's authoritarianism is explained by the rise of executive authority and the growing GOP disdain for the state. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-rise-o...

Gendered administrative burdens academic.oup.com/jpart/articl...

Good news for China, India and Canada: "firms respond to restrictions on H-1B immigration by increasing foreign affiliate employment... particularly in China, India, and Canada. The most impacted jobs were R&D- intensive."

"'To me, it just screams that public corruption cases are no longer a priority of DOJ,' said Andrew Tessman, a prosecutor who left the Justice Department this month." The message to corrupt Republicans: help yourself. No one's watching anymore. It's not hard to see where this is heading.

Excuse me, that is Professor Michael Shellenberger, who holds a endowed chair at the prestigious University of Austin, a very serious institution showing us we don't need those fancy data-and-evidence types.

OLIVER: “In Russia, when Putin rose to power, TV satirists were among his first targets… Putin was driven to madness by how he was mocked on a puppet show… the lesson is it’s not safe to let one show slide because there are currently others.”

Did this not happen

The Free Press, about to take over CBS News, blames universities for American political violence. Read the latest from @donmoyn.bsky.social for @lincolnsquare.media www.lincolnsquare.media/p/the-worst-...

22-year-old Ward Sakeik, a Palestinian woman who has lived in Texas since she was 9, says her experience in federal detainment could only be identified as “human trafficking.” And she’s not staying quiet about the women she was forced to leave behind. thebarbedwire.com/2025/09/22/w...

The US is imposing sanctions on Brazil for trying to protect its democracy, and throwing a lifeline to Milei to prop up his administration.

New at Can We Still Govern? Will Howell and Terry Moe, two leading scholars of executive power, summarize their new book "Trajectory of Power": Trump's authoritarianism is explained by the rise of executive authority and the growing GOP disdain for the state. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-rise-o...

The Swamp, Undrained: ▶️ Ballard Partners has lobbied for 10 clients this year with the Justice Dept, which is headed by a former Ballard lobbyist, AG Pam Bondi. ▶️ BGR Group has lobbied for 19 clients with the Transportation Dept, which is headed by a former BGR lobbyist, Secretary Sean Duffy.

Explainer from @kevinrkosar.bsky.social on the pocket rescission ploy.

“I think the only reason why you wouldn’t measure it is…because it basically allows you to pretend like we don’t have this food insecurity problem.” www.wsj.com/economy/trum...

Not the biggest issue, but I am also curious what happens to the $50K to that FBI officials gave Homan. Presumably he just kept it? Did he report it as business income on his taxes?

Just to give you a sense of how partisan the decision to cancel the Homan investigation was, Emil Bove, Trump's personal lawyer, discouraged it as a DOJ appointee. This is the same guy who argued for ignoring court orders accroing to DOJ whistleblowers. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/u...

Education is a way of connecting people around shared values and knowledge. Which is why some regimes attack it, seeking to disconnect themselves from a broader world. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/w...

You can get fired for not remembering Kirk appropriately but who gets to decide what is appropriate?

same. every time I see more coverage of this thing I’m like “Jesus Christ”

The institutions yearn for fascism; they long to be freed from the unbearable yoke of liberty.

Can’t believe this cost 50 grand but people say the Homan special is worth it

Izquierda Derecha, by Juan Genovés, 1967, 📸 via @beysicc

The guy who blocked the field goal also then collected the ball and ran it back. Amazing stuff.

"We are closing the department in charge of education, but also taking more control over education" is a real puzzler

What a finish to the Philly game

Release the Homan files

This is unambiguously correct. There is no good reason that the President should control the appointment of the leader of GAO, one of the few oversight agencies that is still functional. Congress should take control of their own agencies. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Spin: Homan was just honoring Robert Redford with a tribute to "The Sting"

I don't like Maher but respect his effort to do a unique "cancelled for both 9/11 and Charlie Kirk" combo

"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”— Wilhoit’s Law

For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law

When you are a stenographer for a government abusing its powers